This Sacramento financial advising firm was bought by a national company

The retirement of the owner of a Sacramento wealth management company has resulted in the sale of the firm to one of the largest national players in the financial advisory industry.

After 40 years in business, Confluence Financial Planning owner Cynthia Meyers closed a deal in December to sell her business on University Avenue to Mariner Wealth Advisors.

Terms of the deal were not announced.

Meyers, 71, said that she plans to retire later this year. She said her clients will be in good hands with Mariner which also offers tax preparation and insurance services.

The sale of smaller wealth managers to giant companies like Mariner allows the firms to survive because employees often don’t have the several million dollars available to buy the business when the owners retire or decide to sell, said Brooke Southall, founder of trade publication RIABiz.

“Typically, the problem is that the next generation that takes over the firm isn’t wealthy enough to buy it,” he said.“So the sale to a bigger firm is a way to create a succession so the firm can survive.”

Meyers said all six of her employees are continuing at the firm’s office and that the business will be operated independently under the Mariner brand.

“The key here is that the employees are staying,” she said. “And our clients who know those employees will have the same kind of service that they’ve been accustomed to having.”

The acquisition of Confluence was the fifth purchase of a wealth management firm in 2023 for fast-growing Mariner.

Mariner Wealth Advisors had more than $114 billion in assets under advisement and ran 99 offices as of last June 30.

Confluence manages $360 million in assets for 285 clients at its Sacramento office, now operating under the Mariner brand.

Mariner operates 15 offices in California but the takeover of Confluence marks its first retail location in Sacramento, said Marty Bicknell, CEO and president of Mariner Wealth Advisors in a news release.

“The remarkable economic growth in the greater Sacramento region, coupled with the success of Confluence Financial Planning, made this acquisition

a strategic union of thriving environments and proven expertise,” he said.

This is not the first Sacramento acquisition for Mariner, which is based in Overland Park, Kansas.

In July 2022, Mariner announced it had acquired Sacramento-based Financial Services Network, which provides administrative support and operational and compliance services for 400 independent financial advisors in 20 states who manage $26 billion.

The firm has approximately 60 employees.